You Take Away My Pain
by Eve Prime
Summary: It's easy to get together, but staying together is a whole other problem. They are both broken, both hurting. They have a lot to get through, but if they can work through the pain together, they can stay together. But first they have to get paste years of hostility. It's going to take some time, but love is worth fighting for, and that's what heroes do. EraserMight Fem/All Might
1. The Beginning

**So, uh, I found Anime.**

**So here I am prancing about in my new domain, ready to rule the world! Muhahah!**

**But before then here's a bit of backstory for this story. I love EraserMight. Like so so much. And with season three of the anime coming to a close I thought, why not? So if that's not your cuppa tea, then sorry but this is mostly gonna be a fluff fic. Meaning there isn't gonna really be anything but setting up the fluff and then playing out the fluff, ya know? So, sorry but thanks for coming anyways.**

**This story is mostly cannon compliant until episode 50, but only kinda. I'm ignoring the big twist on Shigaraki's history. (That doesn't exist, never happened, we don't know her. She must go to a different school.) After this episode I'm only loosely dancing around cannon. **

**Oh and also Toshinori Yagi/All Might is a woman.**

**Why you ask? Why not I pose to you? (Mostly cause I like the idea and haven't seen a story with female Yagi so I thought I'd make one.)**

**Last bit of information you need is that while, like I said, this story is mostly fluff, there is some fighting stuff, some quirk stuff. The idea, and you'll see what I mean later, for what happens with All Might comes from a Film Theory by MatPat on YouTube. If you know what I mean by that than you can maybe see where this is going, if not than you'll be surprised. I'm not gonna say anymore about that cause it'll ruin things, but if you want some idea just look up My Hero Academia Film Theory on YouTube and you'll find it eventually.**

**(This story isn't complete and I can't promise anything on the whole posting front. Sorry about that. :)**

**And that's about it. Hope you all enjoy and please don't forget to drop a review to let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome. Or flames. Or compliments. I take 'em all and use them to fuel future creativity!**

**Thanks and see you in the next.**

* * *

The buzzing wouldn't stop.

It wasn't always horribly loud, but there was always buzzing. When the sound was lower, she could function. She could play with the other children. Complete her work at school. She could do what she needed to do.

But when it got loud,... It got loud.

She would fall down, not be able to get up. She wouldn't be able to remember what had happened, couldn't remember what she needed to do, just couldn't function. Her ears would bleed and she would black out. She had trouble with nutrition, always puking up what she had eaten. She was sick more often than not.

The doctors said it had to do with her being quirkless. Sure she didn't have that toe joint thing, but that was just theory anyways, so it didn't prove or disprove anything. She was six when she first remembered the buzzing. Her mother said that she had complained of the buzzing since long before.

Her father was angry when they had come home from the doctor's with the news that she had hearing damage that they equated with her being quirkless. He was so mad, screaming that no child of his would ever be quirkless.

That was the beginning of the end for her.

Her mother had been sick since she could remember and it wasn't long after she turned seven that her mother was put in hospital. Not long after that she went to her first funeral. Her mother had been there to comfort her when the buzzing had gotten so bad she couldn't walk, couldn't talk. She had been there when her father had been so angry, angry about her being quirkless, angry about her not being perfect in her classes. Her mother protected her, loved her.

And now she was gone.

Her father got far worse. He didn't give her any time to recover when the buzzing got to bad. He didn't try and take care of her when she was sick. He wouldn't usually be around her. It hurt more than she could explain, and top of all this, she was ostracized from everyone around her.

It hurt. She wasn't going to lie. Being ignored and abandoned by her father. Being abandoned by the world around her. She wanted friends. She wanted a father. She wanted her mama. But that wasn't going to happen. She was quirkless, which made her worthless.

But even still, she wanted to help. She wanted to be a hero. There weren't to many out there, heroes that is. Even at such a young age, she knew evil was over running the world. She might even know it better than most adults. But that didn't change anything. People reacted to the world they were living in, and if they had someone to look up too, someone to guide them, someone to give them hope, she had faith that people would be better. Could be better. Could use the gifts they were given to save the world.

And she knew she could be that hope. That light in the darkness. Sure it was gonna take time, it was gonna take effort. She had a lot to get past. Her quirklessness, her hearing impairment, her living status. But she would do it. She would be a symbol. She would be thee symbol. Of hope. Of justice. She was gonna change the world for the better, it was only a matter of time.

...

It wasn't going well. She had been hospitalized because of malnutrition and couldn't go to school for a month. She got behind in her classes and had gotten in major trouble with her father. She had gotten weaker, lost most of the muscle she had managed to amass. When she eventually made it back to school the other children ramped up their bullying and she was drowning. Everything was slipping from her grasp. Her life was ending. She wasn't going to make it. It was over.

Then she showed up.

It was a normal school day, except that a hero, Electric Storm, was supposed to come to her class and speak about being a hero. But he apparently got called out on a mission so was replaced by a hero without a hero name. She had come to the junior high and was speaking to them, about how important it was to use your quirk for the good of society. And that even if your quirk wasn't suited to crime fighting, you could still help all the people around you. How important it was to find what you were best suited for so that you could be happy and fulfilled.

And then she was done and it was time for questions. Everyone around her asked the hero about fights, villains, and she listened to every story. Absorbed ever anecdote. The hero had a smile on her face the whole time, she looked so calm and serene. So happy.

But, that wasn't the only thing that was different. The buzzing was everywhere, all the time. Sometimes it got louder, sometimes it was nearly quiet. But it was always there. No matter where she was, there was always buzzing. Even now, there was buzzing. But, there was also humming. A sweet, gentle humming.

And she wasn't sure how, but she knew, it was coming from the hero. She was the source of the humming and there wasn't anything that would keep her from being near it. It was calming and for a moment, if she focused on the humming, she couldn't hear the buzzing.

Then the hero was leaving. Walking off and she couldn't let her leave. She needed to talk to her. She needed to figure out why the hero made a humming sound an no one else did. She ran out of the room, her teacher calling after her. But she couldn't let her leave.

"Wait! Please wait!" She ran up to the hero, who had stopped and turned. It hadn't been a long run, but it had worn her out. She needed to take a moment to rest, catch her breath.

"Are you alright little one?" She caught her breath, a smile pulling at her lips.

"I'm okay. I just haven't been able to run for a while. Being in hospital will do that to ya, you know?" The hero smiled sadly at her and she felt bad for bringing up her stay in hospital. But then the humming seemed to reach out to her, calming her. She wanted to be closer to it, whatever the humming was.

"What is your name little one?" She looked down, not expecting anyone, let alone such a great hero to ask her her name. People usually just ignored her or called her girl.

"Toshinori. Yagi Toshinori."

"Well it's lovely to meet you, Toshinori. If you'd like you may call me Nana. So Toshinori, what did you need to speak to me about?" Toshinori looked up at Nana and suddenly couldn't decide what she wanted to ask. Sure, she wanted to know if the humming had to do with her quirk, or what drove Nana to be a hero.

"Do you think somebody without a quirk can be a hero?" Toshinori didn't know why she asked, she shouldn't have. Everyone she asked always said the same thing. No. No you can't. You're to weak, to useless. You can never be a hero. Toshinori wasn't sure why she asked, but she had and now she had to live with the consequences. Steeling herself for the answer she knew she would get, Toshinori looked up at Nana.

"Yes. Yes I think you can."

This was the beginning of her life.

Nana wasn't entirely sure about Toshinori at first. No, she didn't think Toshinori was bad or anything, actually she was one of the sweetest, best tempered children she had met. It was more, how sickly Toshinori was. She was a very small teenager, and couldn't move for long. She was also quirkless which was problematic. Nana needed to pass One for All onto someone strong. Someone who would be able to add to it's strength, it's power.

But damn it if Toshinori was just so darn hopeful. She always seemed to be looking for the bright side. Always finding the best in the worst of humanity. It was, refreshing. She was also surprisingly intelligent. She was quick on the uptake and made leaps in logic that astounded Nana. Her friend, Sorahiko had met Toshinori and even he was impressed with the young teen.

Nana hadn't known Toshinori long, but after all the talk about one day being a symbol of peace, Nana made a decision. She couldn't dissuade the young girl from wanting to be a symbol of Justice, so all she could do was support her.

It was from there they began training. Nana had been surprised when Toshinori had transformed for the first time. Nana had warned that it would take a lot of time and prep to get to one hundred percent. They had been training for a year, Nana doing her best to get Toshinori up to, well anything. They had trained her body, putting some muscle on her and gotten her on a more steady diet. Then Toshinori was signing up for UA High School and while Nana really would have rather gotten her into a bit better shape before the transfer, she still realized that getting into one of the better hero high schools in the country would be imperative for her growth as a hero.

So, a month before the entrance exam to UA, Nana started the transfer process. And wow was it surprising. It took a few hours for her DNA to absorb into Toshinori and before she could warn about not going all out on her first punch, Toshinori did just that. She went all out.

Nana and Sorahiko were both blown back fifty feet by the wave of energy. Nana was up in a moment running back to her student, worried she had just killed the child. Nana remembered when she had gone over her power limit the first time. The pain from shattering her harm had been blinding and hospitalized her for two weeks. When that had happened she had used just fifteen percent of her power. From the feel of that blast, Nana was sure Toshinori had used nearly one hundred percent, if not one hundred percent. She was gonna be in pieces all over the beach and all because Nana had been absent minded.

But as the dust cleared and the sun shone down, Nana was left speechless. There standing where young Toshinori should have been, was, well, the freaking Symbol of Peace.

A tall confident woman stood there, power radiating from her body. She was looking around surprised, and Nana couldn't blame her. Toshinori looked entirely pleased with herself hopping around excitedly, shouting that she had done it. She had punch all the air away, shattered the rocks and trees around her and created a tidal wave of sand.

Nana and Sorahiko decided it must have been something to do with One for All merging with Toshinori. She transformed from some scrawny kid into this hulking figure. It spoke to how she might look after some years of training, or maybe even just growing up. They had been thinking that Toshinori's training would have been about gaining strength predominantly, but now apparently they would be training her on fighting techniques.

Nana spent lots of time with Toshinori, training and getting to know her. Sorahiko helped when he could, even going so far as to get his teacher's license during Toshinori's senior year. She was doing her best and quickly excelling as a hero. She shot to the top of her classes, excelling physically and mentally. She was always compassionate and kind, but could be shrewd and decisive. It was clear to everyone that when All Might grew up, she would be a hero to recon with. It awed her teachers, and pissed off her class mates.

It became clear to Toshinori that it was lonely at the top. Most wanted to be friends with her image, while others hated her on principal. There was one boy, two years younger than her who had graduated from Junior high early and joined the same year she did. He was a verifiable genius and his quirk was powerful. Toshinori had tried to make friends with him, no one else seemed to want to. He was younger than them all and smarter than most of them so he was usually the butt of jokes. She could identify with that, she knew how it felt. But it became clear early on that this, Aizawa wanted nothing to do with her. It hurt her hart, but it didn't really matter.

It was lonely at the top, and it was best she learned that now.

...

After knowing each other for four years, Nana and Toshinori had become quite close. Sure Nana had gotten married and had a child, and the situation surrounding that was tragic to say the least, but even still, she found herself, loving Toshinori. And Toshinori had started looking at Nana as a mother. Her father had gotten himself killed not long after she started high school and from there, Nana had stepped into the role of mother and mentor to Toshinori.

UA had a week off and Nana and Sorahiko took Toshinori on a camping trip to help her with fighting on different types of terrain. The week had been going well, Toshinori acclimating to fighting through trees and up mountains. She punched mountains and ran the perimeter of the park several times in an hour. She got punched and kicked, hit with sticks and all manner of weapons. Toshinori took every manner of beating, but true to who she was, whenever she got knocked down, she got right back up. Even if it was onto shaky legs.

It was late one night near the end of their week. Toshinori was exhausted, having woken up at five each morning and running herself ragged with training. She was now curled up by the fire, having fallen asleep with her head on Nana's lap. It spoke to Nana's maternal instinct and she couldn't help running her hands through Toshinori's sun golden hair.

The young woman had gone through a late growth spurt, adding another foot to her, topping out at six feet. She had also bulked up a bit, filling out and becoming stronger in her regular form. It had been a bit surprising when Nana realized that Toshinori towered over her now, but in the end it was worth it, for whenever Toshinori made a great accomplishment she always took the opportunity to scoop Nana up and spin her around. It was great.

"Really wore her out this week, huh?" Nana looked over at Sorahiko who had just sat down after putting more wood on the fire. They were both a bit tired, but not enough to turn in for the night.

"She's been working very hard. She's grown a lot over the week and I'm so proud of her. Not even just this week, but over the past four years. It's, so, great." Sorahiko looked at Nana, confused at the sudden shift in her tone. Nana realized what she had done, and averted her gaze, focusing on running her fingers through Toshinori's hair. The silence went on and eventually Nana had to look up, finding Sorahiko looking at her.

"What's wrong Nana? She's coming along wonderfully. She should be a full fledged hero in no time."

"Yes. Of course. She's going to be amazing. She is amazing. It's just, I, regret transferring my power to her." Sorahiko looked stunned, and then angry and she realized her mistake. Nana had been slightly shocked by how close the two had become. Sure he could be a bit of a stick in the mud sometimes, but only because he was trying to push Toshinori to be the best she could be. But when push came to shove, he would do anything for Toshinori. He loved her wholeheartedly. So it shouldn't have surprised her that he would get angry at what seemed to be her words disparaging the young girl. So before he could speak up, Nana was quick to speak again.

"It's nothing to do with Toshinori as a person. I'm pretty sure there isn't another single person I would want to have take on this power. She is kind and considerate and thinks of literally everyone before herself. And, I, have found, that I love her like a daughter. And that's the problem. I, know the road that is before her. I know what she is going to be going through. I know what she is going to face. However, now that I know her, like really know her, I don't want her to go through this. I don't want her to suffer." Sorahiko had calmed down by then and was looking on rather sympathetically. Leave it to Nana to become emotionally attached to her successor.

"But you know she had been suffering. Her whole life she has been through so much and she is stronger for it. I, agree, on not wanting her to suffer, but once All for One is defeated, she will be, home free. Sure it'll be hard, but she is strong enough."

"No, I. I know physically she will be fine. Or I'm sure she will mostly be fine. It's mentally that I'm worried about. She is going to be alone. Sure, she will have us, but she won't have anyone else. Most people will be shallow, only loving her for being a hero. And those who aren't shallow will think she is shallow for what she has to do. If she wants to be the Symbol of Peace she will need to be friendly with everyone, having a smile on her face through thick and thin.

"So anyone who might have been more than an ally, who might have looked past the exterior, will think she is nothing but a dumb meathead. I've already seen it happening, the children, the adults in her life, they already choose what they want to see. I don't want her to be alone, but from personal experience, I know most people fall away. I had to look a long time to find anyone. I was lucky to have you and to find,... well anyways. But I wasn't dedicating my life to, well the world. And she is. She won't be living a normal life, and I don't think anyone will want to take the time to get to know her. I just worry." Sorahiko was nodding along, understanding what she meant.

"Well, your not wrong. She is gonna have a hard time. I have no doubt that she will have no close friends. The world is a very shallow place and she will have to work hard to become who she wants to be and that's not gonna leave a lot of room, if any for finding friends. But, as much as I want to protect her, she is on her own path. She has chosen to become a symbol that the world can look up to. In doing so, she is going to be cut off from those she protects, not of her own volition, but because you can't love a symbol. The old adage holds true. It is lonely at the top and Toshi will be at the top of every heap, good and bad. She wont stop until she is." Nana couldn't disregard the wisdom. Her friend was so wise, it astounded her.

"You are my oldest friend Sorahiko. I,... Will you please promise me something? If something happens, to me, will you please promise to look after her. Teach her if I cannot?"

Sorahiko only hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"If anything were to happen to you, I will look after her. Teach her. I got this damn license to teach for a reason. Not gonna let it go to waste now." The two friends smiled at one another. They talked for a time after that, enjoying each others company, eventually falling asleep, happy just being near each other.

It wasn't long after this night that it all fell apart.

...

Everything had been going well. To well. Toshinori was excelling in her classes, excelling in her training. It was quiet in the world of villains and that should have been a red flag.

They were out on patrol, looking around for any villains when he struck. The power from his opening attack sent them flying and destroyed four of the surrounding blocks. All for One came in, fists flying and attacking Nana. Toshinori tried to help, but Sorahiko told her to stay back.

It was amazing to see the two heroes fighting, but Toshinori knew to be worried. She knew who this was and knew what he could do. Something settled in the pit of her stomach and she knew this wasn't going to go her masters way.

Then Sorahiko came running, the battle coming to a pause. He came running and grabbed Toshinori by the arm pulling her away. Something connected in Toshinori's mind. She remembered the time Nana had told her that true heroes always smiled, and another time she told her to never give into revenge.

Sorahiko was pulling her away as Toshinori realized what was about to happen. Nana was going to sacrifice herself. In the logical part of her mind, Toshinori knew that she needed to escape. If she died the One for All would die with her and All for One would win. But that logical, sensible part eluded her. All she knew was her master, her mother, was about to die.

She screamed out, calling for Nana, wailing as Sorahiko pulled her bodely from the scene. Toshinori called out, tears running down her face. She was so scared, she didn't want her to die. She wasn't ready. She wasn't capable. She needed her master.

But then she heard the humming. It started small, but became louder. It seemed to fill her body and stopped her from struggling. Over the humming she heard the voice of her master. She didn't realize it would be for the last time.

"You need to go little one. You need to flee. I'm going to hold him off, but don't stop until you reach the school. You will be safe there, but you must not stop." Toshinori could only nod, watching as her master was backed into a corner. "I only have a moment, so I need you to remember. Toshinroi, when you think your at your limit, remember, remember why you clench your fist. Remember why you smile. Remember where you came from, your origin. Remember why you fight. That, will bring you a little past your limit, that will bring you to victory."

Toshinori was getting further and further away, though she heard what was being said, all she could do was scream, yell, sob. Her master was going to die. She was giving up her life. She was about to leave her and Toshinori didn't know if she could handle it.

"Yagi. Be still little one. I give my life freely. You must not let this day stop you. Do not let revenge guide you, for it is selfish and will not lead you down the right path. Go on and become the Symbol of Peace, of Justice. Live your life. Be the pillar society needs you to be. I love you Yagi. Now go!" The last command was punctuated by a huge explosion.

It was an explosion no one else would have felt, just Toshinori. The rush of energy almost knocked her out, but it was enough to make her limp in Sorahiko's arms and let him drag her from the battlefield.

...

Nana Shimura was dead. Her master was dead, and One for All was entirely Toshinori's. She had One for All, and she wanted nothing more than to give it back. Wanted nothing more than to have her master back.

After that day the world seemed to slip into gray scale. Nothing mattered. Nothing moved her. Nana was dead, and Yagi couldn't function. In class she would stare out the window usually on the verge of tears. If the teacher called on her for an answer she would answer, but besides that, she couldn't be bothered.

During training, she tried to learn, tried to fight back. But all she could think of was Nana. Sorahiko tried to get her to fight, but she just couldn't. Everything, nothing, it was all for nothing. She was depressed and she couldn't get out of it. She felt like she was sinking and she couldn't swim up. She couldn't get out.

"That window gonna give you the answer to the meaning of life or are you just too stupid to know you need to pay attention?" Yagi turned after a moment to look at Aizawa Shota. He was standing near her desk, arms crossed and his red rimmed eyes trained on her. He was always hostile towards her, for no apparent reason, but for once, instead of trying to make nice, she just couldn't be bothered.

But even still, she was present enough to be curious. She wondered why he was talking to her. They hadn't spoken in nearly six months, not after they had been teamed together and he had gotten frustrated because, of, something. She didn't know. But looking at him now, eyes red and tinged with anger, it was the black hair framing his face that caught her attention. The disappointment, the look, it it was just like,...

She couldn't hold back the tears any longer. They flowed freely and she couldn't breath. The grief that had been pulling her down engulfed her entirely and she couldn't do anything but sob. She didn't remember much of that day, but she did remember talking to someone, saying how her mentor had died, how she had been like a mother and she was dead. How she didn't know how to go on without her and she wasn't sure she wanted to. She never looked up, never stopped crying, but after that day, she felt better.

She at one time thought it must have been Aizawa that she poured her heart out too, but the man was as hostile as ever when she saw him again. A teacher must have found her, and spoken to her. Or maybe principal Nazu. But whoever had helped her that day, they had saved her life.

After that day she had been able to think again. To see the bigger picture. She needed to be a pillar, a pillar of justice, a symbol of hope. She was being selfish, so selfish. Everything had been given up for her and she was being a child.

After that day she trained harder, harder than she ever had. She paid attention in classes, got perfect test scores. By the time school was done, she was graduating with top marks. She was quickly whisked out of the country, no longer safe. She went to America, where she would train to become the number one hero. At the peak of her strength she could lift ten thousand pounds and run faster than any means of transportation. She was near indestructible and could heal quickly.

But even with all her power, even with all her fame, she still felt empty. She had no close friends, no one she spent any great amount of time with. Even as the world was coming to a time of peace, she still felt, lonely.

Even after defeating All for One she still felt empty, and not just because she was missing parts of her intestines and half a lung. That was another problem. She was dying. She was slowly dying and not a damn person knew about it. Except for all the specialist.

Damn specialists. Each one said they could fix her. Each one butchered her. Cut her to pieces, killing her faster. She coughed blood more often than not. She lost weight, now only a tall bag of bones. But worst of all, she couldn't be All Might for more than five hours.

Sure she had completed her life's work, and the work of all those who came before her, but damned if it still didn't suck. She spent most of her day's alone, not at her agency. She looked sickly and felt even worse.

She tried to spend as much time as she could in her hero form. If she wasn't doing that she was making TV appearances. They had always been tedious, but now they were down right tiring. She would smile like she had been taught, speak around an issue in such a way that the interviewer thought they were getting everything, but really they were getting nothing. It was a skill she had learned as a child, then developed on the media circuit in America. It served her well now, being able to dance around why she wasn't such a presence anymore in crime fighting.

Most times though, she found herself curled up in the darkness, pain lacing through her body with each breath. She was drowning again, this time not just emotionally. Blood was filling up her lungs, and eventually she wouldn't be able to cough it up anymore. She would drown. It was a terrifying way to go, not one she wanted, but it was inevitable. With where technology was today, she had no chance to live.

She needed to find a successor, and she needed one fast. A good place to look was at her alma madre, UA High. She talked with Sorahiko about what to do and the two came up with a plan. She would be the new teacher at UA High. It was cemented after a, long drawn out conversation with principal Nezu, where she told more than she wanted, but got access to the school, so in the end it was worth spilling her secrets.

But in the end it didn't even matter. She met such an amazing young man who in a day turned about her thoughts. She didn't know why she had squashed such a bright youth when she first met him, it showed her how well and truly depressed she was. But seeing him run into that fight, she had realized she was such a coward. He had no quirk, no physical strength, nothing, and yet ran head long into a fight to save a friend. He grew up so quickly and changed so much, never stopping once. It was amazing how dedicated he was. He would be an amazing hero.

And then the USJ incident happened, and Yagi could have killed herself. If she had been there, she might have fixed things, stopped them. But she hadn't. She's worn herself out and then barley arrived in time. What kind of hero did that? Aizawa was right. She was an idiot.


	2. It hits the fan

**Hello everyone! Thanks for coming back for more, I'm so happy y'all could make it.****So just to clear up a thing or two, this story is going to pretty much just be Aizawa and Toshinori. Izuku may be mentioned and might show up, but it's definitely more a cameo than and actual character. Another thing is that I know Toshinori has friends, people he (or in our case she) can hang out with and talk to, but no one he can really go to. Even Tsukauchi is more a "let's take down bad guys and get a drink after" material, and Izuku is a child who already has the world on his shoulders and doesnt need Toshinori's baggage. What this story is exploring is someone who Toshinori can confide in and a shoulder to cry on.****So anyways, thats about it. Please leave a review and tell me what ya think. The next few chapters are setting up some character moments and then we get to the good stuff! If you have some moment in the series you are dying to see, or a moment in the future you might be interested in let me know and I'll see what I can do!See you in the next!**

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

There wasn't many times that she felt this defeated. This beaten down. Not only was she hurting physically, but mentally and she was so tired of feeling like this. But it didn't change that she was a failure and that she felt hopeless more often than not.

As she sat in her apartment, the drapes pulled closed and wallowing in self pity, she thought about Izuku, and how he was hurt. Arms, legs broken. Mother crying at his bedside. Toshinori thought of the other students who were traumatized, each of them living through a harrowing experience, fighting for their lives. Seeing their teachers bloodied and bruised, injured beyond what they could stand.

But at one in the morning, even with all of that going through her mind, when literally anything else should have been their when she closed her eyes, the only thing she could see was his face.

It was etched into her eyelids. His broken and bloodied face. His body, limp on the ground. Face pounded into the concrete. His light weight cradled in her arms. he pained expression that mares his usually blank face. The children yelling that he was hurt. Telling her that he had saved them. It was her fault that he was injured. Her fault he had fought the villains alone.

Toshinori stood up suddenly from the couch. The world swirled around her in a dizzying circle. She should see to that as he was recovering. She had heard that his orbital bones were fractured, his eyes damaged. What if he couldn't use his quirk again? It would be her fault. She knew how hard it was to live without a quirk. How society viewed you. She didn't want that for him. Didn't want that for anyone. She would just check. Just a moment. She went to grab her hoodie and scarf. On the way she passed her hall mirror.

Toshinori stopped, looking at her reflection. She traced along her eye sockets, horrified at the bones she found there. Her were sunken in, hollow. You couldn't hardly see her eyes anymore. The blue sunken in and hidden in deep black holes. She didn't want people to see her like she was, like this because she knew it was, terrifying. She hated how she looked, had always hated how she looked. But now, nothing but skin and bones, she couldn't stand it. She was hardly ever naked, only when she showered. She tried to not stand in front of a mirror, but she had been distracted. Hadn't thought to not look. Not when she wasn't properly covered.

Now though, she was in a tank top and sweat pants. This was why she preferred wearing baggy clothes. She barely tolerates the suits and only wears them because she doesn't want others to see her as a slob. But at home she always tried to wear something baggy. It showed how she hadn't been thinking. Her breasts were the only thing she even moderately liked about herself. But they drew attention to where she was lacking, which was everywhere else. Her shoulders were bumpy, her collar bone pronounced. Even through the cotton of her tank top you could count her ribs and see her hip bones. They jutted out horribly. Her spine was prominent as well but she didn't have the heart to look.

Pulling her eyes away she walked into her room and grabbed the hoodie. Now it didn't matter. She wasn't going to be seen by anyone. She was hidden in her baggy clothes, hidden away from the world. It was almost two in the morning, no one would see her. She was safe from prying eyes. Pulling the hood up, Toshinori grabbed her house keys and left her apartment. It wasn't long to walk to the school. Give or take an hour. Enough time to calm her mind. She would just check him for a moment and then go home. Just enough to check that he was alright.

In the end she sat by him all night. She couldn't leave him once she saw him. He was being kept asleep by the pain medications and, maybe it was the sleep deprivation, maybe the self loathing, but she couldn't help reaching for his hand. Holding it in her own. She thought at first it was to make sure he was still alive. He had looked nearly dead and now, she felt better, feeling the beat of his heart thumping against her fingers. The warmth of his hand was calming, and she got lost tracing the lines in his flesh.

She remembered the times they had trained together. She saw him hit the ground. Tried to help him. He would usually swat at her hands, tell her to leave him be. She thought of them teaching together. He didn't usually agree with her methods. She thought of him lying there on the ground, body beaten to within an inch of his life. He hadn't opened his eyes, hadn't said anything. Hadn't breathed.

Yagi stood up, shocked at her train of thought. But more shocked because he wasn't breathing. His heart wasn't beating and he wasn't breathing. Yagi leaned over, trying to find life. She could see his face, his eyes, he was blind and he couldn't breath, his heart couldn't beat. He was dying and it was her fault. Yagi leaned over him, pressing her ear to his chest. Maybe if there was something there.

His heart thumped... And then thumped again. His chest rose, and then fell.

He was alive. He was breathing. His heart was beating. His hand warm in her own. As her mind calmed, Yagi couldn't figure out why she had thought he was dying. The heart monitor had never changed. He had never been in any danger. She was going crazy. She was going absolutely crazy.

She didn't move from her spot, her head pressed to his chest. She relaxed into him, calmed by the beating of his heart. She counted the seconds between each thump. One second. Two seconds. Thump. One second. Two seconds. Thump. She got lost in the sound, lost in the counting. It was so comforting, more so than she ever thought she could be.

Before Yagi knew it, the sun had risen and the nurse would be coming soon. She stood, not wanting to leave his side, but not comfortable enough to be found out and left the school. It wasn't a long walk home, but at this point she was exhausted. She didn't have anything to do today, so she would just go and curl up and hope for death in the solitude of her own apartment. Or maybe just to fall asleep to the memory of his heart beating. That was probably a better long term plan.


	3. Hate is a Toxic Thing

The championship went better than expected. Toshinori had been so worried when Izuku had started walking away from that young man. But than he had turned it all around, fighting him with his own power, his own strength. Toshinori couldn't help smiling, watching him smile at all the people around him.

She had been feeling good, surprised in a way, at how well he was doing. It was going so well.

Until it didn't. Until it all hit the fan. Toshinori had been worried about Izuku fighting Todoroki. Todoroki was an amazingly powerful child and he had a firm grasp on his quirk. She knew that if Izuku went up against him he would have to use One for All.

And then that punk of a kid went and awoke a giant. She could do nothing but watch as Izuku yelled at Todoroki to use his full power. Both sides of his power. And while she wanted to stay angry at him, wanted to yell for him to stop, to just finish the fight. But she knew she couldn't, and that even if she did, he wouldn't stop.

And damn was she proud of him. She knew how much he wanted to win, how much he needed to win, and yet here he was, encouraging his classmate. Doing everything he could so that Todoroki could find his own strength, his own path beside the one his father had planned out. If she wasn't so worried she'd be proud. If she had ever doubted choosing Izuku to pass on One for All to, it was banished in this moment.

Now she was sitting with Izuku, watching over him. He had returned after watching his friends battle and now was sleeping. Recovery Girl had been pissed and yelled at Yagi for a long time after Izuku went out to watch and, like usual it gave her to much to think about.

So here Yagi sat, contemplating her life. She thought about why she kept putting people in danger. Why she kept hurting people, People she actually liked. She tried to encourage those who followed her to be smart about fighting, about using their quirks. She especially tried to encourage Izuku to be careful, think things through, not run head long into a situation. And yet here he was a gain in as many weeks, trying to sleep off severe injuries.

It was here fault that he had done this. He had pushed his body past the breaking point. Toshinori had encouraged him to use this day as a way to step onto the scene, to do whatever it takes to be noticed. And then he went out and did that, and in doing so he had broken his body, damaging his arms so badly that there was permanent damage.

She should have just kept her mouth shut. Should have told him to do his best and that would be enough. But she had pushed him to go past what his body could take, and had almost killed him. She hated herself for doing this, hated that she hadn't seen what her words could accomplish. What they drove Izuku to do. Maybe if she had been silent he would be fine. Maybe if she had never said anything he would only have gone as far as he could.

Maybe if she were dead,..

"Why are you sitting in here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for the ceremony? Your big entrance?" Yagi would have freaked out if not for being so done with all of this. And if her thoughts hadn't been so dark, well she was in no state to be jumpy. She heard Aizawa shuffle into the room, dragging his hand along the wall to keep from falling or bumping into anything.

"Just checking on the young Midoriya. I will be ready in a moment." Aizawa walked up behind her, and even though she knew he could not see, it felt like he was looking at her. Letting go of her hold on Izuku's cast, Yagi stood up. She plastered one of her smiles on her face and turned to the other teacher. "Well, I ought to be off! Can't keep my adoring public waiting" As she tried moving past him he caught her arm.

Yagi tensed immediately. He could feel her arm. The bone, the lack of muscle. The feel of his warm hand caused bile to rise in the back of her throat, him feeling the deformed limb. It was nothing like that night a week ago. He had been asleep, he hadn't been able to feel how deformed she was. How disgusting she was. She hated it. She wanted to puke. Instead she took a breath, trying to not let her nerves show.

"Did you need something Aizawa? Or did you need me to guide you? I'm sorry I should have offered sooner, but I didn't want to,..." Aizawa jerked his arm away, stepping back from her.

"Will you desist. I, it was just a reflex. I can find my way just fine. I don't need you of all people to coddle me." Aizawa stepped further back from her and she was sure he must be glaring. The idea that he was angry with her for just trying to help, it felt like any of their conversations. But this time, for no reason, Yagi felt tears well up. She didn't know why. He was always like this. Always being mean and cruel. Always angry with her for just trying to help. She didn't know why it affected her so much. He had never once been kind. But she found a lump lodged in her throat, and she couldn't get it loose.

"We- ahem. Well. I apologize for assuming, I did not want to be unkind. Forgive me." Her voice quavered more than she would like, and she made a quick retreat after that, wiping away the tear that had escaped. She needed to get going. She was going to be late if she wasn't careful.

...

Aizawa heard the break in her voice as she went quickly from the room. He felt like a dick. He had been coming to check on Izuku and Recovery Girl had told him Toshinori was in with the boy already. He wasn't sure why he had been so hostile, but he had heard something in her voice. Her tone was sarcastic, self depreciating. He had been surprised at how little enthusiasm had come through her tone, even though he was sure she had been smiling. He had just reached out for her to see if it really was Toshinori, or some stranger with her voice. Someone who didn't love the press as ardently as Toshinori clearly did.

His hand had easily circled her arm and it had surprised him. He knew she was, thin. But this was ridiculous. He knew she was sick but, how sick did you have to be that he was able to wrap his hand easily around what was supposed to be the meatiest part of the arm? Then after grabbing her, a dick move to begin with, she had flinched, like he would hurt her. Didn't she know he would never do that? But than a small voice in his head had told him that he had never given her a reason to think so, so why would she assume.

Then she had tried to be kind to him, offering to guide him and he had gotten pissed off, for no reason. He couldn't hardly make his way around, mostly relying on Hizashi to help him around. So naturally she would offer, and instead of saying why he was there or taking her up on the offer, he had verbally slapped her down. He wasn't sure why he had done it. Why he had been so angry suddenly. Maybe he didn't like her seeing him as weak? She was insanely powerful, even he could admit that. Maybe he didn't want her pity? But he knew no matter how superficial she was, she would never pity him, she, respected him to much. She had told him as much.

Whatever the reason, he had snapped and the startled gasp she had let out was enough to make him recoil. He had stepped back, feeling like a jerk immediately. But before he could say sorry she had choked out her own apology, and then left so quickly he was sure her quirk must have been involved. Aizawa was now stuck in the infirmary without a way back. And damn if he didn't deserve it. She had done nothing but be kind to him, and then he had been a jerk and made her cry.

Aizawa sat down, contemplating many things. Mostly why he hated Toshinori so much.

He had never known her that well, not giving her the time of day while they had been in school together. He remembered seeing her across the room, talking with the popular students. She had looked across the room at him, and for the first time in his life he had felt, well he had felt like he had been seen. And it horrified him. She had come up to him later to ask how he was doing and if he had a study group yet. She had been being kind, not excluding him like everyone else, but all he could see was her pitying him and he hated it. But now as an adult, he could concede she had been doing the right thing, the noble thing. A hero even than.

He remembered being pared up with her at times, on projects and in training. She never lagged behind, always pulled her weight, both academically and physically. She was never shy about sharing her opinion, but was just as quick to listen. He remembered her being intelligent, thinking fast on her feet, never failing to keep up with his leaps in logic. She wasn't overly talkative when they were working alone, saying what needed to be said and cutting out all unnecessary dialogue.

He remembered the time she came to school and, was off. It went on for about three months, she didn't talk with anyone, fell behind in training, in her school work. Her eyes were dull, and smile gone from her face. She sat alone at lunch, worked on projects alone. It was unnerving. Aizawa had walked up to her one day, just needing to get her to not be so, sad.

Like usual he went with being a jerk, hoping she would fight back again. But she just turned to look at him, and for the first time he saw how thin she was. How empty she looked. The bags under her eyes were so dark they were almost black and if he hadn't seen her breathing, he would have assumed she was dead, the blank expression befitting the dead. He had been shocked to see her up close, a glare coming up to cover his shock. Aizawa had been sure she wasn't going to answer him, was just going to go back to looking out the window.

And then she burst out crying. Her face crumpled up in agony, reddening immediately from the pressure being released. Her whole body had shook with the force of her sobs, and Aizawa hadn't known what to do. Principal Nezu had walked in then, motioning for him to leave. Aizawa had tried to continue down the hallway, but he remembered his legs freezing by the door. He had listened as she had sobbed, something about her mother dying and not being able to go on without her. Not having anyone anymore.

Aizawa tried to remember a time she had ever done anything wrong. Sure, she could be a piss poor teacher, actually, even that was a lie. She was pretty amazing at getting the kids to push themselves. Sure, she could be a bit bad at knowing her limits, but that was more an exuberance and want to help. Really the only thing he didn't like was her media presence, and even that was a bit shallow on his part.

Of course the number one hero had to be close with the media. And to be honest, the clips he had seen of her schmoozing on television were actually fascinating. She would be asked a question, smile and then give the most round about answer. He was pretty sure whenever he had seen an interview she had walked away giving the impression that she had given up some big secrets, but really, she had said nothing.

It was, amazing.

So the question became, why? Why did he hate her so much? And as Aizawa sat in the room, the sound of Izuku breathing in his sleep the only thing breaking the silence, he had the time and solitude to come to the conclusion that he had no reason to hate her. That he didn't even really know her. And continuing to be a dick to her, when all she ever did was be kind to him, was just that, a dick move.

Relaxing in his chair, Aizawa decided from that day on, he would do his best to get to know his fellow teacher. Find out who she really was behind the mask of All Might.

Aizawa Shota was going to get to know Toshinori Yagi better even if it killed him.


	4. Why Can't I Be Better

"You cannot come. You are a danger to the children and that is unacceptable. You will not be coming and that is final."

Toshinori had holed up in her apartment, a pass time she found herself participating in more and more. The words, his words, rung in her head. It had been an almost physical slap and it had shut her mouth. He thought she was a danger, and was he so wrong? She only got people hurt, couldn't even save people.

And then the call came in, and even without her being there, the children were hurt. Katsuki had been kidnapped. All because she wasn't there. It was a no win situation, she knew, but she was stewing regardless. With the resurgence of All for One she was feeling pretty depressed. He was back, killing people and all she had to show for her troubles was a missing sense of self esteem. Add on to that the continued hatred from her fellow teacher and she was as low as could be.

Now she was just sitting, waiting. Waiting for anything. She had a meeting in a few hours at the school, a joy she had no doubt, but besides that, there was nothing to keep her from wallowing in her own inability.

Everything hurt, and she wasn't much sure there was anything she could do about it. She had failed and she hated herself for it.

...

The meeting was just as bad as she thought it would be.

Normally she could pull herself together enough to be somewhat All Mighty, but today, in this moment, she couldn't. All she could think about was how much of a damn failure she had been. The others were talking about safety, but really, they just needed to not have her at the school. They had never had a problem, not until she showed up. And then within her first month of working she had apparently given rise to a league of villains who wanted her dead and were willing to do anything to accomplish that.

And then her phone had rung, and she got the best news ever. They could find Katsuki, save him, and maybe even put a stop to the stupid League of Villains once and for all. Except, that she wasn't sure she had the energy, the ability to help. She could barley be in her muscle form for an hour, how was she supposed to help them defeat this villain?

But she was All Might, and All Might didn't give up. Even if she wished she could just curl up and die.

Yagi went to get dressed. She would need to be ready at any moment for when she got the information they needed. She would be ready, she had to be.

…

Everything burned. Everything hurt. But the worst part was the cold seeping in. She could feel One for All leaving her. The warmth she had felt for the past forty one years was leaving her. She could feel One for All leaving her and it was scary. She hadn't been without it for the majority of her life, and now. Now it was seeping through her fingers. It was a flame that was going out and no matter what she did she couldn't rekindle it.

All for One's words were burning through her mind, his words, his anger. She hated it. She wanted nothing more than to stop him speaking. Stop him breathing. She had failed so far, she had exposed herself to the world. She was a failure.

Everyone was yelling, screaming at her. Everything was to loud, her heart was beating in her ears and there was just too much. Too much!

She couldn't breath, couldn't see, couldn't' do anything. She was going to die and leave Izuku all alone. She was going to be beaten down and the world was going to suffer. She was letting everyone down. She was going to fail.

It was like electricity through her body. She remembered what Nana had said. Yagi remembered where she came from. How everyone had looked down on her as a child, how she was seen as worthless, how she was abandoned by everyone. She remembered meeting Nana for the first time. She remembered how it felt using One for All the first time. How it felt losing her mother, than her mentor, than her body to sickness and surgeries.

Fighting All for One the first time. Thinking she had done it, but not actually. Thinking she had rid the world of this menace. Thinking she could die happy, knowing that the world was safe. But she had been wrong, so very wrong. He was alive in the world and she needed to put a stop to that. But most of all, she needed to be alive when she did it.

She needed to be alive, for Izuku. She needed to be able to guide him, mentor him. Be there for him. And she needed to fight for him. For Izuku. She never wanted him to go up against All for One, have to fight for his life.

So she dug deep, she grabbed the last of her power, the last she had left, the last bit of flame. The last note of music. She grabbed it and pulled it together, called on her power. She remembered where she came from, where she was going, why she was a hero, why she fought.

And then his face flashed through her mind, or really it was more a moment flashed through her mind. It wasn't long after Aizawa healed from his wounds. Yagi had been sitting in the teachers lounge trying to not to pass out, her head was pounding. Aizawa had walked in, and, she wasn't sure what they had talked about. Her head had been pounding and the world was fuzzy but she had said something and he had laughed, like actually laughed.

And if nothing else, she wanted to make him smile like that again.

So with a war cry, with a primal scream, with literally everything Yagi has, she slammed her fist into All for One's head, spattering his brains everywhere. She put everything she had into this punch, and as the power shattered through the air, Yagi knew she had done it. It was different than last time, different than when she defeated him the first time. The power ripped through her, tearing and shearing through her. She couldn't breath, couldn't move.

When she came back to her senses, Toshinori registered the complete silence. Except for a buzzing sound. Toshinori tried to rationalize. There were sparks of electricity everywhere. Helicopters. People shouting. But deep down she knew, it was back. One for All had protected her and now it was gone. She almost cried, almost lost it. But there really was a helicopter trained on her, she knew. And she had already shown the world she was weak, she wouldn't show them she was broken, even if it was true.

Pulling herself together, Toshinori pointed towards the cameras. She had a message to give and this would be the best and only time to give it. He had to know if he hadn't already felt it. This shift, the transfer. He had to know. She had to tell him.

"Next. You're next." She knew he would understand. Izuku was smart, he would understand. She wasn't sure when next she would be able to talk to him, but she had to let him know.

Gran Torino walked by, holding her by her elbow. It was the only thing keeping her upright, the only thing keeping her steady. People were reaching out, touching her. Thanking her. How could they thank her? This should have been done years ago, not left to tonight. She got a child kidnapped. But while it might not seem like it, Toshinori had never really understood people, not like this. Instead she just smile like she always did. Like she always would.

...

She knew nothing, not where she was going, not what she was doing. Her face felt tight, either from the burns of the smile she had plastered there. Torino led her to an ambulance, but others were being brought, so she said let them go first. Let them be taken to the hospital first. She could wait. She had done this to them, they needed tending to and she could wait.

Yagi tried staying on her feet, but she was slipping. She was losing it. She was gonna pass out.

"I'll take her from here. I have a car and can drive her faster than waiting on another ambulance." Yagi recognized the voice, but she couldn't place it. The buzzing in her ears was making it hard to hear, hard to process.

A warm arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer and Yagi just about melted. Whoever it was held her up and practically dragging her to the car. But they were being gentle with her, letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

Aizawa. The name shot through her mind and she recognized who was holding her. She opened her eyes, not remembering closing them, realizing that while they had been shut the two had made it away from the crowd, the noise dying to the back round. They were alone now, just the two of them, and if she wasn't so out of it Yagi would have questioned the joy she was deriving from being just the two of them together, him holding her in his arms. It was nice. He wasn't such a jerk when he was holding her like this.

"My car is not far from here. It won't be long." Yagi tried to talk, say anything, but it came out as a sob. That wasn't right. She had tried to say thank you, but now she was crying. Where had all the joy gone? It had only been a second. She stopped, unable to move. She tried, she really did, but she couldn't move. Her legs wouldn't work, wouldn't move forward. She started coughing, blood spilling up into her mouth, spilling out of her mouth. She couldn't stop, couldn't breath, couldn't do anything but cry.

She slid to the ground, leaning against Aizawa. She felt so foolish but she couldn't stop crying, coughing. Her heart was pounding in her ears, blood drowning out everything. She was having a panic attack and she was going to drown.

"Shhh. Shhh. Yagi, just try and breath, I'm right here. You're not alone. Just breath, I'm right here. Relax. I'm right here." Aizawa was down beside her, and Yagi could hear him over everything. He kept on talking, and she focused on his whispers, on the breath against her ear, the hand running up and down her back.

Her head was soon pressed into his chest, his free hand coming up and sliding his fingers into her hair. She could hear his heart beating, and thought about her own matching his. About her breathing matching his. She focused on his words, the random stream of conscience.

She breathed in his scent. He smelt warm, like cinnamon. It was nice. She wasn't sure how long she sat there, longer than she should have though. Longer than she should have made him sit there.

"I, I'm… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, I, sorry." She kept saying it, kept speaking, new tears flowing. "I kept you out, I've done, I'm, I am, sorry. You, hate me and I'm, you don't. I'm sorry." Yagi tried pushing away, not wanting to lean on him, not wanting to keep pushing herself on him, but his arm tightened around her.

"Why are you apologizing? You've done nothing wrong. Now I need to get you to the hospital before you pass out. I can't have my hero dying on me." Yagi tried to tell him not to take her to the hospital, it was full of hacks, but than Aizawa grabbed her arms tucking them close to her chest, the motion causing Yagi to groan in pain, both arms broken horribly. He then slid his hand under her knees, his other going around and holding her from behind. "This might hurt a bit, and for that I'm sorry." In one fluid motion, Aizawa stood up, and he was right, it hurt.

Stars burst behind her eyes and she let out a strangled scream. She buried her face in his neck, trying not to cry out again. The blood was rushing in her ears again, but she could hear him humming, the vibrations reverberating in his chest.

The last thing she knew was his humming being drowned out by the buzzing.

...

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Aizawa knew he was jostling her injured arms and broken ribs. There were far to many pot holes in the road and Aizawa was cursing each and every bump. The walk to the car on top of the pain from the day had been to much for Toshinori and she had passed out. It wasn't a good thing, but Aizawa was almost glad she wasn't awake for the ride.

His heart was breaking for her and he just wanted to pull over and hold her, stopping her from being in pain. He poor face was stained with tears that had cut through the blood and dirt. She looked so sad and broken, all bundled up in the back of his car, her tall form smooshed on the bench seat. He knew it wasn't comfortable, but it was faster than waiting. Aizawa was taking them to a hospital a bit further away so that she wasn't lost in the commotion of survivors being brought in. She would need serious medical attention and he was going to make sure she got it.

When the arrived he ran in and got a medical team to bring a gurney and help take her into the hospital. He ran along side them, watching as they started pulling off her torn hero costume, already getting her attached to oxygen. He ran until they came to two door that were flung open. He would have continued if a nurse hadn't blocked him, telling him they needed to take her back and he wasn't aloud.

So all Aizawa could do was watch as she disappeared down a long white hallway as the door shut. Her broken body being rushed to a hopefully life saving surgery. It was going to be touch and go for hours, the internal damage no doubt extensive. In the pit of his stomach worry sat like a rock. She might die. She might die thinking he hated her when that was far from the truth. And whose fault was that? Only his own, because he had treated her horribly for no reason. She might die and he wasn't sure he could handle that.

For the first time since Shota's mother died he felt like crying, and he knew damn well why.


	5. The Truth of the Matter

She was out of surgeries late that night, knocked out on painkillers. The fact that she was still alive was surprising. There was severe trauma to her right arm, bones shattered, fragments ripping into the muscles and tendons. Her other wrist was fractured, her left foot was bruised down to the bone on her ankle. Her ribs were broken, and her kidneys were bruised. She was severely concussed, trauma to the brain stem. But the worst part was apparently an older, pre-existing injury causing the doctors the worst issues.

Her left lung was traumatized, the muscle missing from the lower half, and scaring lancing through the remaining tissue, causing irreparable damage. Lower down her diaphragm was a quarter smaller than it should be. The same could be said for her intestines, but apparently her stomach and spleen were entirely gone. Her spleen was missing as well. Some butcher had thought it was a good idea to start cutting her digestive tract to pieces, her stomach getting pulled apart in the crossfire.

Aizawa had been told all this and it had made his blood boil. Someone, somewhere had thought this would save her. Something about a corrosive condition and needing to cut out the infected tissue before it could continue to spread. Really all it had done was compromise her immune system, leave her unable to eat enough and therefore stop her from recovering.

It explained how skinny she was. For someone to be over six feet, and apparently weighing a little less than a hundred pounds she was in a dangerous condition. Her bones were brittle and she was apparently usually suffocating on blood. Something about the clots in the alveoli being disrupted whenever she she took a deep breath. She was in a precarious situation, always at risk for a life threatening infection. Someone had done this to her. Someone had hurt her.

Aizawa had never wanted to kill someone but right now he was feeling homicidal. If All for One had still been alive, he would nullify the creeps quirk and then kill him, but as Toshinori had already done that he wouldn't get the satisfaction. However there was someone else that he had his sights set on. He could find the butchers who hurt her and make them pay. Sure it wasn't very heroic, but he had always thought of himself as more a vigilante than a proper hero.

Aizawa was sitting in an empty hallway contemplating the most horrendous way to kill someone while waiting for a nurse to come and take him back to sit with Toshinori. No one else was allowed back, the wing of the hospital had been closed off and while Aizawa had been confused for a single second why he was allowed back, he had decided it was probably because he had brought Toshinori in. Even Gran Torino wasn't allowed back here and he had apparently been Toshinori's teacher.

"Mr. Aizawa? Please follow me." A young nurse with blue skin and a tail motioned for him to follow. Aizawa stood quickly and almost chased her down the hallway, anticipation building. Sure he had heard the doctors report, but while he had visualized many horrible things, he had no idea what he would actually find when he entered the room. They arrived at the hospital room and the nurse opened the door, motioning for Aizawa to go in. "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ring the call button attached to the bed." With a slight bow, the nurse turned and left. Aizawa watched her go, taking a deep breath before going in the room, where it was immediately knocked out of him.

Toshinori was laying in the bed, arms wrapped in gauze, along with her head. The room around her was white and everything inside was white, even Toshinori. The only thing that was a different color was her hair. Her sunshine hair. Aizawa turned down the lights, shutting the door and moved to sit in the chair by her bed.

Her eyes were sunken in, her cheek bones protruding. She had a cut along her right cheek under her eye, almost in the exact place his own scar was. He couldn't help running his finger along the torn skin. It had scabbed and was slightly raised, a purple bruise forming under the cut. It was a horrible contrast to the the ash pale skin of her face.

She felt cold and Aizawa knew it wasn't for lack of blankets. Her chest rose steadily beneath the blanket, nazel tubes providing oxygen. She looked so frail, so delicate. For the first time, Aizawa was seeing Toshinori and not All might and he couldn't believe he had been so stupid.

She played him, played the media, played everyone. She was so, amazing. She played the dumb blond when there was a genius lurking under the surface. He wanted to scream at how stupid he had been. Calling her shallow, seeing what everyone else was seeing, not taking even a moment to get to know her when he was always spouting on about looking past the surface.

He was such a hypocrite.

He was a jerk.

He had been coming to the realization in the past few weeks. It had really hit home when he had angrily told her that she was a danger to the students. She had wanted to come on the camping trip, help the students become stronger, but all he had heard was her wanting to butt in on his training schedule. Sure he had been sleep deprived at the time, but she had just wanted to help. And maybe if he had let her come she would have been able to help the students. Help them all. Stop the kidnapping. Stop the confrontation between herself and that faceless creep.

Stop her from almost dying.

But he had practically yelled at her, and the look on her face, like he had just kicked her puppy. She had shrunk, looking at him with, such shock. They hadn't spoken since, not really. He had returned when the whole kidnapping things had happened and hadn't been able to face anyone, not when it was his fault and now Toshinori was having to clean up his mess. They hadn't been in the same room together long enough to have a conversation and to be honest he didn't want to talk to her, not after what he had done.

He had felt bad the moment the words left his mouth, the moment they passed through his filter. But he hadn't had a moment to apologize. Hadn't taken a single moment, not a one for her. Not to get to know her, or to apologize. He had been in the wrong but instead of confronting the problem he did what he always did and was a coward, hiding from her as she was trying to save Bakugo and then the world. She could have died that night and the last thing he would have said to her was that she was a danger to the students, and it would be better if she had never come to the school.

And then he was watching her on TV fighting for her life, taking blow after blow, it had been horrifying to see, images that would haunt his nightmares for years to come. He had run for his car trying to get to her, to see if he could help. He had been waylaid by the screaming hordes, having to park blocks from the battle. By the time he got there the final blow had been struck, All Might having her last moment. There was chaos, people screaming in pain, wailing at the loss of family. Aizawa hadn't even been there but he was traumatized from the aftermath.

He wasn't sure how he found his way to Toshinori, but he was offering a ride before he even knew what he was doing, taking her into his arms. They didn't talk much, and were nearly to the car before she just stopped. They were frozen for a time before she had collapsed in his arms. She had started sobbing, and coughing. Her legs gave out, and suddenly she was in his arms. He had lowered her to the ground, blood pouring from her lips, staining his scarf and her chin. It was horrible to see, and he hoped it wasn't always this bad, just exacerbated by the fight.

She had started hyperventilating, mumbling random things and he knew she couldn't breath. It had been just like the day almost thirty years ago, when she had broken down crying. He knew now why she had been so, depressed during that time. Why she had cried. She had lost her mentor, her mother.

And he had handed her off without much thought, pawning her off onto Nezu to take care of. He wouldn't make the same mistake now.

After a moment's hesitation, he had just started talking, holding her close, hoping she would calm down. He didn't really even know what he was saying, just things. Then she had started saying she was sorry and that she knew he hated her and he had needed to shut that down quick. She was freaking out again, trying to pull away from him. It had been strange, having her in his arms, comforting her. But once she was in his arms safe from the world, he couldn't imagine letting her go.

Aizawa had looked down at her face, her beautiful face. It was red with tears, stained with blood, her sky blue eyes, washed out. She looked so torn down, broken and damn if it wasn't his fault. He pulled her close then, holding her in his arms. He started humming a song he remembered only pieces of, hoping it would help calm her.

Now, sitting in the quiet room with her, the only sound being the nebulizer and heart monitor he decided it was too quiet. He started humming the song, letting the vibrations rumble through his chest and filling the room. He reached forward, placing his hand on her arm.

It was going to be a long night, but Shota Aizawa was not going to let her go it alone. Not after all he had already done to her.

* * *

**Please follow, favorite and leave a review! It makes my day y'all**


End file.
